Player Analysis - Centrebacks

The spotlight today falls on Central Defenders. Depending on the formation chosen, you will either be picking 2 (4-4-2 or 4-3-3) or 3 central defenders (5-3-2). Based on the scoring system, it is advisable to go with a back 4 instead, which I'll explain in the following sections:

2011/12 Season - Top Centerbacks

* It is ASSUMED that Defenders Games Played = Starts, and Clean Sheets is based on another website statistics. Goalkeepers are easy, as very few are substituted during a game, but trawling through all the data to determine if a defender played 75 minutes, was he on the pitch when a goal is conceded, etc. isn't my cuppa tea...

As expected, 4 of the top 5 players are from Manchester, while Thomas Vermaelen & John Terry are a serious goal threat in addition with their clean sheets, with 6 goals in the whole season.

On closer notice at the P column (games played), the top 8 players only managed at most 31 games. Therefore, fantasy managers are likely to find themselves using transfers to rotate among top central defenders.

So, who should I select?

I'll split the selections into the following tiers: $$$$ (4.5 and above), $$$ (4.0 - 4.4), $$ (3.5 - 3.9) and  $ (3.4 and below)

i) $$$$ (4.5 and above) aka Wah, so Ex?

Similar to the Fullbacks selection, this tier is made up of Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea & one of the top scoring defenders, Vermaelen (4.6). 

Now, let's make the comparison between the top Central Defenders and top Goalkeepers:

Comparing last season's statistics, the standout in Man City's defence is Joe Hart. With a lower value of 4.6, his output of 98pts is higher than the 1st choice Central Defenders of Kompany & Lescott. Hence, if you want to take a Man City player in Defence, Hart should be your best choice.

For Man Utd, it remains to be seen. As mentioned in the previous article, if De Gea played all 38 games, he would have scored 98pts, which makes the situation similar to their Manchester neighbors. Nemanja Vidic (5.1) is left out from the statistics above, as he only appeared in 6 Premier League games last season, so fantasy managers may have to take him into consideration too.

On the flip side, Chelsea's John Terry (5.0) & Arsenal's Thomas Vermaelen (4.6) performed much better than their goalkeeping counterpart Cech & Szczesny, due to their high scoring record. The lesser amount of games also 'boosted' Vermaelen's score. Arsenal conceded 25 goals when Vermaelen was on the pitch, and 24 goals when he was off the pitch.

Fantasy managers must also consider whether Terry and Vermaelen can continue with their strong scoring record in order to be a better bargain than their goalkeepers.

ii) $$$ (4.0 - 4.4) aka Reasonably Priced

Similarly, this tier is made up of Champions League hopefuls Arsenal, Tottenham, Liverpool, and Everton's Phil Jagielka (4.0). Unlike their fullbacks, even though they're reasonably priced, but I won't really recommend any of these players.

Arsenal: I'll rather risk an additional 0.3mil on Vermaelen than Koscielny (4.3), due to his high scoring ability.

Tottenham: Who is their actual 1st choice centreback partnership? Gallas (4.0) didn't appear in any of the friendlies, but was made captain in their 1st 2 PL games. Kaboul (4.1) started the 1st game, but was replaced by Vertonghen (4.1) due to injuries. Until this is resolved, none of the Centrebacks are worth the risk.

Liverpool: Price-wise, Reina (4.0) looks more value-for-money compared to Skrtel (4.2), and neither him nor Agger (4.2, injury-prone) are goalscoring threats to be worth the risk.

Phil Jagielka: Similarly to Liverpool, Howard (3.7) is a better bargain, but if you really want an Everton defender, there's a slightly cheaper choice in the next tier...

iii) $$ (3.5-3.9) aka Possible Bargains

.....which Sylvan Distin (3.9) appears. When fit, he's a 1st choice selection for the Everton's backline, and their team performed well in the 1st 2 games of the season.

Other notable standout in this tier includes Brede Hangeland (3.7, if he can relive his 2010/11 goal scoring record), Aaron Hughes (3.5, if Hangeland can't relive his scoring record, but you want a Fulham defender),  Fabricio Coloccini (3.7, ever present in Newcastle's defence, though he doesn't provide much goals or assists), Robert Huth (3.6, goal scoring threat, but very bad schedule till end-Oct) & Carlos Cuellar (3.5, possible double-gameweek due to postponed game against Reading, and able to operate at right-back).

iv) $ (3.4 and below) aka Scraping the Barrel

And we end off the article with the 'cheapies', After watching the 1st 2 weeks on how the goals were conceded, I'm not sure if it's worth picking up any of them at all, except Swansea's centre pairing (Chico (3.3) & Ashley Williams (3.4)).

Next, we're moving up the field to analysis on the guys who play in the middle of the pitch aka the Midfielders (duh). 

If you haven't sign up for Today Fantasy League, you can click on this link for Registration.